Two weeks ago, Barcelona announced Setien as the replacement of Ernesto Valverde, a coach Barcelona fans has long been asking for the axe to be dropped on his head as he has made Barcelona appear a complete shadow of the Barcelona we used to know, ‘Tiki-Taky’.
With Setien, we happened to witness a possession football lacking under Ernesto in the current coach’s debut match against Granada. Although Barcelona went on to win just 1-0, courtesy of a brilliant move that Lionel Messi finished but the main emphasis was laid on the return of possession football.
Next against Valencia at the Mestalla, Setien’s Barcelona were found wanting. Although they maintained possession largely against a team of Valencia’s caliber but it counted for nothing. Valencia went on to win by 2 goals to nil and it would have been 4 had their first half penalty been scored and one of their goals not ruled out for a foul.
In my own opinion, Valverde wasn’t a possession based coach but he made sure the win was gotten at all means. Barcelona were top of the La Liga table and qualified for the round of 16 in the Uefa Champions League under him but the fans were all blind to these facts and sought his dismissal. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Spain, Coach Zinedine Zidane and his Real Madrid team are lacking goals when Benzema, their main striker is misfiring. With Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale injured, Rodrygo, Vinicius, Vasquez and Isco all not pure goal scorers, the mantle has fallen on Karim Benzema to deliver goals.
However, Benzema isn’t Cristiano Ronaldo who scores an average of 50 goals all season and his fellow teammates know him for that. They in turn move high up to assist him in scoring the goals and getting the win at all cost whilst sacrificing their strength for the attacking third to defend thoroughly in other not to concede a goal. This had made Real Madrid stay atop the La Liga table today with the least goals conceded.
While Zidane’s Real Madrid are okay with defenders and midfielders scoring more than attackers, even if it means one goal per match, provided they get the three points, Barcelona are busy searching for goal scorers and stylish football, appalling!
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